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New shoots
Ever felt like life has cut you down? That things were going well, but then something unexpected happened, or someone hurt you, or you made a mistake that seemed to destroy everything? When a tree is cut down, it can grow again. Job says, ‘There is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.’ And it’s the same for us. When life has cut us down, it’s not the end. With God, new life can begin to grow again. He’s the God of second chances and new beginnings. There’s no mistake, hurt, or situation that’s too big for Him to redeem. It might take a long time for that new shoot to appear, but it will come. We can have hope that our situations will change and that God’s working, even when it doesn’t feel like it. But for a tree to be able to flourish, it has to be planted in the right place. A stump that’s in a dry and dark place is unlikely to grow again. If we want new life to emerge from our ruins, we need to make sure we’re surrounding ourselves with the right people, feeding our minds with God’s Word, and spending time with Him, our Light. In Jeremiah 17, we’re told: ‘Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord…They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit’ (17:7-8 NIV). When we’re trusting and hoping in God, we’ll be in the best place to produce a new shoot.
What Now?
Plant some seeds and then take care of them. When you first see a new shoot coming through the soil, thank God that He brings new shoots out of the areas of your life which have been cut down.
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